The Heroes' Last Stand
by dougthedino
Summary: COMPLETE. Set ten years after the events in dawn of the dragon. After the defeat of Maelfor, Spyro and Cynder set out on a quest to find the truth behind Sparx's death. SpyroXCynder. PLEASE REVIEW! rated for violence.
1. The quest

**AN: Alright so this is my first fan fiction story ever, so yeah I hope I've done a good job, so constructive criticism is welcome, and maybe flames (on a lesser degree please!) So sit back and (hopefully) enjoy my story. WARNING: if you cry **_**really **_**easily then you may not want to read this. **

**THE HEROES' LAST STAND chapter one**

_It has been nearly been ten years since the destruction of Maelfor, and now once again the dragon realms are back in balance. Dragons have now returned to the realms and now flock the streets. Without the encumbrance of monsters, dragons are now free to explore the world, leading to many important scientific discoveries. Amongst these discoveries were magical wells, each with it's separate powers. One could heal the drinker of any bacterial disease, another could bestow enormous stamina upon the drinker. However, all of these powers were eclipsed by the power of one in particular. The cosmic well is what it was called, able to teleport the drinker to entirely new worlds. Many dragons of great knowledge have studied the well and its mysterious powers. They found that more often then not the well would simply teleport them a few feet away from it, until one test the drinker disappeared as soon as the liquid from the well touched his lips. As soon as they witnessed this the other dragons drank from the well as well, with about as much success as the first tries. The dragons had no idea why the well only seemed to work for one person in particular, but some have theorized that the well's powers were controlled by some other being, a being not known of their world. _

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In the past there have been many great dragons who have changed the dragon realms for the better, however the two dragons who unarguably changed the best were Spyro and Cynder. They were the two heroes who defeated Maelfor in the battle which has been named, " The final confrontation". A few weeks after " The final confrontation" they were both married.

They have been married nearly ten years now. They live together inside of the dragon temple along with the four guardians. Unfortunately, during the battle with Maelfor Cynder had suffered a sever abdominal injury leaving her incapable of bearing children. Despite this hardship Cynder and Spyro live with each other in perfect, undisturbed harmony… until now.

Spyro gazed down at Sparx's lifeless body, undisturbed inside of its wooden coffin. Sparx's parents were beside Spyro weeping uncontrollably, as Spyro tried to comfort them. However, it's hard to comfort someone when you yourself are in need of comfort, as Spyro was quickly finding out. He just couldn't stop remembering that terrible scene, his half-brother's body floating in the waters of Dragon Claw Lake, his blood turning the water a grotesque reddish brown tint. However disturbing that might sound it was nothing compared to what Sparx himself looked like. His face has been a face of absolute horror, as if he had just seen Maelfor come back. And then there was his body, covered in hundreds of bloody holes, each had an odd shaped piece of metal roughly one inch size lodged inside of them

. No one had any ideas as to what it meant, they had never seen someone killed in such a manner, but one thing was certain, it was murder. And Spyro wanted to get to the bottom of this, the only clue he had was that Sparx had been sent on a mission about a month ago to explore the new worlds now accessible through the cosmic well. And then this had happened.

"No Spyro you can't, that's insane!" Cynder shouted.

"Cynder, I have to do this! Sparx was murdered and I must find the people responsible, and the cosmic well is the only way!"

"But Spyro listen! If Sparx died in ,whatever world he was sent to investigate, then what makes you think the same thing couldn't happen to you?!" Cynder said.

" He didn't just die Cynder! He was murdered!" Spyro shouted.

" How do you know Spyro!" Cynder countered.

"How else could this happen?" Spyro asked.

" Spyro, we don't even know which world he was sent to, for all we know this could have been normal in that place." Spyro faltered, he had never thought about it that way before. Perhaps there was a chance that this was just a freak accident, but still, Spyro wanted to know the truth.

"Cynder, whether this was murder or not, I still want to know what happened to Sparx."

Cynder wanted to object. She wanted to tell him what a completely insane idea this was. He didn't even know if the well would take them to the right place or not! And Cynder had a feeling that even if they got to the right place, something bad would happen, it was like a voice desperately screaming at her not to let Spyro go. Yet, deep down inside Cynder knew that she wanted to find out what had happened to Sparx too.

"Alright Spyro, if you're serious about going, then I'm going with you." Cynder told him.

"You sure?" Spyro asked. Cynder smiled.

" What, you think I'd rather stay here and let you get all the fun?" She jokingly asked.

Spyro laughed, " I don't think you'd be able to stand one day without me." He said.

" Oh really? I bet you'd be the one to come crawling back, bawling, 'oh Cynder I couldn't do it I need you please come with me!'" Cynder mocked. Spyro sighed.

"You're probably right, I couldn't do it without you." Spyro leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Cynder smiled up at him and embraced him, returning the kiss. They held like that for a moment kissing each other until they broke away. After words, they grabbed some supplies and left their house, walking down the path to the cosmic well.

* * *

After a few hours of crossing through the thick forest they reached the cosmic well. It was in a wide meadow, with perfectly green, healthy grass, there were fire flies buzzing around providing dim light. The well itself was actually quite an impressive display. It was about five feet tall with a small emerald roof on top of it. The cranks were made of brightly polished oak and the bucket inside was pure silver.

The liquid inside, was a vivid gold color. It's smell was hard to describe, it was like it was actually beckoning Spyro and Cynder to drink from it. Spyro walked over to the cranks and started to rotate them, lowering the bucket. It filled up and he raised it back up.

"Well, here goes nothing." Spyro said. He brought the bucket to his lips and drank. It was unlike anything he had ever tasted! It was bitter, yet sweet, and at the same time salty. After drinking about half of the bucket, passed it to Cynder and she became to drink too. Then they waited. At first nothing happened. Then suddenly Spyro's insides started to burn. It felt as if they were being spun together by a blender. He was getting dizzy. He felt his legs give out from underneath him. As he fell he saw Cynder fall as well. He wanted to help her but he couldn't move, he struggled to move, but soon his vision failed and his consciousness slipped away into darkness.


	2. Humans

**AN: Alright second chapter, please review!**

**Chapter two**

Cynder woke up to someone gently prodding her side. As soon as she regained consciousness she was struck by a massive head ache and her eyes felt like they weighed a ton. She heard someone gently speaking to her. The voice was male so she assumed it was Spyro, until she heard what the voice was saying.

"Come one wake up lizard-thingy, wake up." What had he just called her? A lizard-thingy? Cynder had never heard Spyro say anything like that to her. Finally, with great effort Cynder opened her eyes, and what she saw was unexpected in every way.

What she saw resembled an ape with no fur, except on its head. What she assumed was its face was white as snow with small peach colored splotches, its nose looked as if it had some kind of stone encasing it. Its mouth was covered in red paint, and was in a pleasant grin. Its skin had an almost pinkish-orange color, like the splotches on its face. The strange figure was wearing some kind of armor, except it was made of cloth. And on its feet were what looked like to be boots, but they were huge! Its feet couldn't be that big, it was absolutely disproportional.

As Cynder gazed at the strange being she saw a tag o its chest that read:

**HI, MY NAME IS, MARK GREEN. **

Mark. Was that the name of this thing? Mark noticed Cynder staring at his name tag and asked her,

" Can you… read?"

"Of course I can." Cynder replied, matter-of-factly. This seemed to take Mark a back. He sat there on the ground gaping at her.

"Y-you can talk too!" He shouted

" Oh this is amazing1 I can't believe it, a talking lizard!" Mark exclaimed.

"I'm not a lizard! I'm a dragon!" Cynder huffed.

" A dragon? Wow this is so cool! But I thought dragons were bigger, you know like fifty feet long." Cynder regarded him icily, then asked him,

"Hope you don't mind me asking you, but exactly _what _are you?"

"I'm a human." Mark answered.

"Do all humans dress as ridiculously as you do?" She asked him. Mark laughed.

" No, only I do."

"Why?"

"I'm a clown"

"Clown?"

"Yeah, you know, tricks, jokes, stuff like that is what I do."

"Oh, you mean like a jester."

"Uh, sort of."

Cynder noticed that Spyro was starting to moves. He stood up shaking his head. He looked around, looking for Cynder. Then he saw her.

"Cynder!" He ran over to her, hugging her for all he was worth while shouting,

"Cynder you're a live! I thought you wouldn't have survived." Then his shouting ceased as he sniffed the air. He turned around and saw Mark. Spyro got in a defensive stance, and stepped in front of Cynder, whilst growling at Mark. Cynder placed a claw on Spyro's shoulder and tried to soothe him,

"Spyro, it's okay, he's friendly. His name is Mark." Spyro stopped growling, and walked over to mark, he raised his hand, Mark flinched, Cynder was about to stop Spyro. Then Spyro clasped Mark's hand and shook it.

"Greetings, I'm Spyro." He said. Mark sighed with relief, before answering,

"Uh… nice to meet you." Mark replied. Spyro sniffed the air again started looking around quizzically. He looked at Mark and asked,

"Where are we?" Mark got up.

"Well, I guess you guys are new here, I should take you to see the ringmaster." Mark answered.

"Who's that?" Spyro asked.

"He's the leader of the show, the master of the circus." The circus? Cynder had seen circuses before, all of them were deeply exciting, if there was one thing Cynder enjoyed most it was circuses.

* * *

**Yeah I know, a little bit of a boring chapter, but the last chapter is coming up soon, so I was just preparing you. **


	3. The professor

**AN: okay, this is the second to last chapter so please enjoy! And don't forget to review! **

**CHAPTER THREE **

It didn't take long for them to reach the circus site. Cynder looked up at the red and white striped, extra large circus tent, large enough to house a stage, an audience and the preparation rooms. As soon as they stepped into the tent Mark hollered,

"Professor, I'm back! And I've got someone I want you to meet!" He cupped his hands around his mouth so he could be heard across the large tent. Cynder saw someone turn around.

He was a little bit shorter than all the other humans, he wore completely black clothes with white underneath, he had white hair and he wore a top hat, but strangest of all was that he had an eye patch across one of his eyes, a scar ran down the eye's side. He looked over at were Mark was standing, his face a scowl, but then he saw Cynder and Spyro and his scowl became a toothy grin. He walked over walking with a limp and using a cane of black wood to help steady him. As he got closer, Cynder could see numerous nasty scars stretching across face, and he had a knowing look in his eye, hinting great wisdom.

"Well Mark what are these? A couple of new friends you found?" He asked. His voice reminded Cynder of Ignitius, kind and wise.

"Yes I found them in the woods unconscious, and guess what, they can talk! They even told me their names." Mark answered excitedly.

"They can talk you say?" The professor asked.

"Yes, we do. My name is Cynder, and this is my mate, Spyro." Cynder told him. The old man looked at them with a face of astonishment, then smiled. He bowed, saying,

"Welcome Cynder, and Spyro. I am professor James F. Sykes." He shook their hands. He smiled and then said,

"I'm very glad to meet you." The professor said. "Though I must ask you, how did you get here?"

The professor listened as Spyro related the tale to the professor. The professor listened intently, and it seemed like he was actually believing him! As Spyro ended, the professor shook his head saying,

" My, my what an impressive story this is. If you were a human, I wouldn't believe you, but since I believe that you are both dragons, I might as well assume that this is true too. Come now you must be weary, I have some beds that you could use. Rest well, and in the morning we can have further discussion."

Mark showed them to their tent, were they'd be sleeping. They went inside.

"Wow, this has been an amazing day, Spyro." Cynder said sleepily. Spyro grinned, and said,

"Yes it has, but it sounds like you're getting tired so good night." Cynder yawned and then gave Spyro a good night kiss and they both fell asleep, undisturbed.

* * *

In the morning Spyro was the first to wake up. He yawned and stretched his wings, protracting them to their full ten feet wing span. He looked down at Cynder, as she slept snoring slightly and making small grunting noises. Spyro smiled, she was so cute when she slept, he almost didn't want to wake her up. Spyro nudged her gently with his muzzle until she was awake.

"Come on wake up sleepy head." He said teasingly. Cynder smiled and got up. She yawned, witch in turn made Spyro also yawn. They both walked out of the tent. They started looking for the professor, but instead found Mark making some sausage for breakfast. Both of the dragons' mouths watered as they smelt the sizzling sausage.

"Oh, good morning!" Mark called.

"Morning." Cynder managed to say through a yawn.

"Hey Mark, where's the professor?" Spyro asked.

"Oh, he's in his office down outside. Big black tent, you can't miss it."

"Thanks." They walked out of the main tent and quickly saw the large black tent about a hundred feet away. They stepped inside. The professor was reading a book. It was completely black, and on the cover the title was written in some language that Spyro could not decipher. He looked up at them and motioned for them to sit down. They did. After about three more minutes of reading, the professor put down the book, and smiled at them. He began to talk.

"I've been thinking." He said. "I was wondering if you two would like to be in one of my shows tomorrow as part of the exotic animals performance. What do you say?" Cynder got excited. She had always wanted to be part of the circus, and now she had the opportunity to be in one with Spyro! She looked Spyro. Spyro cleared his throat and said,

"We'll talk about it. Could we talk about this outside?" He asked.

"Of course, take all the time you need." The professor answered. Cynder and Spyro left the tent.

"So are we?" Cynder asked.

"Cynder, I don't think we should. We should leave this place and keep moving."

Cynder was about to protest, when Spyro said,

"We don't have any time to waste, we have to find out the truth about Sparx's death and we can't as long as we're here."

There was a part of Cynder that agreed with Spyro. Something inside of her was telling her to get as far away from this place as possible… it was a voice just like the one she had heard before She and Spyro had ever even drank from the well. Maybe she and Spyro should just leave.

"_Whoa Cynder come on, get a grip over yourself, what could happen at circus? You're just being overly cautious." _ Cynder told herself. Finally she spoke,

"Spyro listen. It will only be one act he wants us to do. Nothing could possibly happen." At first it looked like Spyro was going to argue, instead he just sighed.

"Fine. I'm just worried Cynder. I don't want anything to happen to you, I love you too much not to worry."

:"I understand Spyro, but everything will be okay, you'll see. Now let's go tell the professor our answer.

The two dragons stepped inside the tent. The professor looked up from his book.

"You're reply?" He asked.

"We accept." Spyro answered.

"Excellent, you two should go eat some breakfast, I'll explain your roles later." As they stepped out of the tent, neither of the dragons saw the professor's evil grin. His teeth lengthened into fangs and horns erupted from his hat and his single eye turned purple with convexity. He kept grinning, soon he would have his revenge.


	4. The truth

**AN: Alright, here's the final chapter! Please enjoy and review! **

**CHAPTER FOUR **

The next day Cynder woke up. This was the day. Today she and Spyro would perform in front of a live audience in a circus! Cynder was of course excited, but also terrified at the same time. She didn't know why she was so shaky, but having Spyro with her did help. Spyro and Cynder walked out of their tent and walked to where the preparations for the show were being held. The professor was waiting for them. He had them do many warm up exercises and stretches to warm up their muscles, they were going to need it!

As Cynder did a few stretches she thought about their act. Cynder's act was more of a flexibility act if anything. She was to fly threw hoops that were set on fire, do some acrobatic tricks as she flew, nothing Cynder found challenging. Spyro's act was simply to show off this amazing strength by doing different tasks, one was destroying a brick wall with his tail, snapping a chain in half, neither of which would be at all hard for Spyro. For the final act Spyro and Cynder would be together. They were to fly around together, while several circus workers were to pretend to shoot them with rubber bullets. The professor had said it wouldn't hurt either of them at all, a slight bump is all they would feel. The bullets would look real to the audience, so it would , to them, look like an amazing act. The professor said that he would of tried it with real bullets however he didn't want to take the risk of wounding Spyro and Cynder…or they thought.

As both Spyro and Cynder finished warming up, the professor told them that he would go and greet the audience, and told them not to show themselves until he gave them the signal, a loud toot of a trumpet. Cynder waited for the signal anxiously.

"Cynder, are you ready for this?" Spyro asked her. Cynder looked at him and smiled,

"As long as you are here I'm ready for anything." She leaned forward and kissed Spyro. They locked lips and kissed. It wasn't until thy heard a high pitched toot of a trumpet when they broke the kiss.

"Well that's the signal." Spyro said.

"Remember, my act is first." Cynder told him.

"Don't worry, I'll watch you," Spyro told her.

Cynder walked out from behind the curtain, the crowd cheered and gaped with awe. After the professor introduced her to the audience Cynder took a deep breath and then launched into flight. Cynder could see the crowd looking up at her with amazement, this gave her some confidence, and continued with out hesitation. She saw several large-techno-colored hoops suspended from the ceiling with chains as the hoops caught ablaze with fire. Cynder flew right through them with ease. The audience roared with approval. Cynder smiled. If this was all it took to impress them then this would be a piece of cake! So her routine carried on much the same. She'd fly around the audience, even swoop at them several times, which would always get whoops of joy and excitement from the crowd.

After about twenty minutes of this routine, she landed on the stage. She sat there panting in exhaustion as the crowd cheered and applauded. Cynder bowed and then went behind the curtain. She saw Spyro.

"I saw you Cynder, you were amazing, I thought you did great, and apparently the audience agrees!" Spyro praised. Cynder laughed,

"Thanks Spyro. Well I guess it's your turn to go on stage now." She told him. Spyro nodded.

"I guess it is, well wish me luck!" Spyro kissed her on the cheek and then stepped out onto the stage

Cynder waited. Now that she had some time to think, the desperate, terrified voice came upon her again, begging her to leave as soon as she could. Cynder shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts, she tried to keep the voice at bay. It was like trying to keep yourself from breathing, you could stop for a while, but soon the fatigue of your lungs would keep piling up until you conceded and gasped for air. Cynder tried to fight the feeling as best she could. She cried out in frustration and started to pound her head with her claws, she clawed her face and banged her head into the ground trying to rid herself of the tormenting voice. Just as Cynder felt like she would succumb to insanity the voice subsided. Then she heard Spyro's voice.

"Cynder, are you alright?" he asked. Cynder got up.

"Yes I'm fine, I was just taking a nap, I must have had a nightmare." Spyro looked at her with concern. He gasped.

"Cynder your face… it's all covered in blood."

"It must have happened in my nightmare, it was quite frightening. It's not as bad as it looks, I'll be fine." She told him. Spyro looked uncertain, but he didn't say anything else about it.

"Well it's time for our joined act." He told her.

"Okay." Cynder stretched a little followed Spyro out onto the stage.

As Cynder stepped out onto the stage she saw one of the circus workers loading a gun for the act. So that is what guns looked like. They didn't seem that dangerous. Cynder doubted that they could even pierce her hide with real bullets. Cynder stood still as the professor announced the final act. Once he was done talking Cynder and Spyro leaped into the air. Cynder was about to fly down low towards the audience when suddenly, a giant cage dropped down from the ceiling surrounding the stage. It happened to quickly for Cynder to veer out of the way and she flew right into it and plummeted to the ground. The audience roared with laughter. Spyro ran over to where Cynder had landed,

"Are you alright." Spyro asked frantically. Cynder nodded, she only seemed slightly dazed. Spyro was helping her up when he heard a loud BANG! Cynder cried out in pain, clutching her paw that was gushing blood. Spyro could see the bullet lodged inside of her paw as blood flowed freely from it. Spyro saw the professor standing a few feet away holding a pistol in his hand. His face was curled into a cruel grin, stretched across his scarred face.

"What did you do to her!!" Spyro roared. The professor laughed.

"Same thing that I'm going to do to you!" The professor answered. The professor aimed the gun at Spyro and fired. Spyro roared in agony as the bullet ripped through his leg. He growled and glared at the professor. The old man laughed.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do _that _Spyro!" The professor yelled, except this time it wasn't the professor's voice, it was a lot more powerful and sinister. Spyro's heart skipped a beat as he realized the voice. Spyro uttered only one word at his old enemy.

"Maelfor."

"Yes, very good." Maelfor said. Spyro gazed at the monster that he thought was dead, assuming a human shape.

"How is this possible!" Cynder asked. Maelfor laughed, the crowed laughed with him, and suddenly they all turned into apes, Maelfor however was still assuming his human form.

"You know, I can't believe that the most legendary dragons of all time were fooled by a simple illusion." Maelfor cackled. "You thought that you had beaten me, but I was still alive, simply biding my time for the opportune moment and then you walked right into my trap!" Maelfor said. Spyro glared at Maelfor, hatred gleaming in his eyes.

"So you were the one who killed Sparx, weren't you!" Spyro screamed. Maelfor simply shrugged.

"Yes it's true. He came here a few months ago said he was on some mission to explore new worlds, or something like that. I welcomed him in here, but he soon caught on to who I truly was, I couldn't have him going back to warn all of you, so I killed him. I knew that you would come here to find out what had happened to him and you fell for it!" Spyro growled and charged at Maelfor, ready to tear his throat out. But he never reached him. Just as he was about to attack Maelfor two muscular ape body guards slammed him off course. The crowd of apes cheered. Spyro got up and faced the guards.

He roared and charged at them. They dodged the lunge and they both punched him with such force he went flying to the other side of the cage. He landed only a few feet from Cynder.

"Spyro! Are you alright?" she asked him. Spyro grunted.

"I'll be fine, I was just caught of guard is all." The body guards were advancing on them now. Spyro stepped in front of cinder and spread out his wings to protect her. He shot a fireball at both the guards. The guards dodged the attacks and got out their pistols and fired at Spyro. Roared in pain as the bullets pierced his delicate wing membranes. Blood oozed down onto his muzzle, blocking his vision and stinging his eyes. Spyro continued to keep the guards at bay using anything he could, fire bombs, earth flails, and even thunder arcs, but the guards would always manage to dodge the attacks and then fire rounds of bullets at Spyro. Spyro was unable to dodge the bullets, otherwise he would Cynder unprotected.

Cynder watched in horror as Spyro guarded her, even to his death. Cynder wanted to help, but she was still dizzy from the wound her head had sustained and she could barely walk anymore because of her wounded legs. Cynder didn't think that Spyro could last much longer. He was covered head to toe in bloody bullet holes, over half of which were in his chest. Cynder tried to stand up, her head throbbing with pain and her legs shaking with the effort.

"Cynder, what are you doing!!!" Spyro roared in anguish.

"I'm going to help you!" She answered. She shot a stream of poison at one of the guards striking him in the chest killing him instantly. Seeing his chance Spyro shot a lightning bolt at the other, killing him too.

Spyro collapsed. Spyro was trying to get back up when eight more body guards flooded the stage, surrounding Spyro. They fired their guns, each hit their target square in the chest. Spyro collapsed again. He now lay in a puddle of his own blood. He cold feel his lungs start to fill with blood. His vision was blurry and faded, he tried to stand but his legs would not respond to his brain. He couldn't move. Spyro felt his heart fail and his body start to get cold. The last he ever saw was Cynder desperately trying to help him.

This couldn't be happening. Cynder stared at her dead mate in disbelief. Only a minute ago had he been a live, guarding her with his life. Cynder's was blinded by tears. Her love was gone. He wasn't coming back, she couldn't do anything to save him. She cradled his head in her arms her tears dropping onto his face. She raised her tail and brought the tip through her heart, stopping it forever. She fell to the ground. Her limp body thudded softly on the ground. The last thing she ever saw was Maelfor laughing and jeering as his ape minions brought forth Spyro's carcass and started to tear it apart.

It was all over. The greatest dragons of all time had perished.

END

**AN: I know, I know it's sad, but I did warn you. I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Thank you for all of your support. **


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